Videos - Do you use personalized thumbnails?

Thumbnails are a great way of telling your (potential) viewers what your video is about and why they should watch it. It is therefore important that these stand out from the others.

A thumbnail can draw attention by:

• Using bright colors and avoiding using the YouTube colors (white, black, red) so you don’t blend in
• Being custom (90% of the best performing videos on YouTube have custom thumbnails)
• Using big bold titles (30 characters maximum, remember a thumbnail is small)
• Feature your main keyword in the title

YouTube offers resources to create better custom thumbnails including image size and resolution, policies, etc.

Creating a visual identity

Establishing a unique visual style for thumbnails is great for grouping similar videos together and encouraging click-throughs. This has the added benefit of increasing brand recognition and strengthening the connection between grouped content.

❌ Figure: Bad example - Automatically generated thumbnails are not engaging and inconsistent

✅ Figure: Good example - Consistent thumbnail styles elevate branding and helps viewers identify similar content